He noted that the company still has a strong backlog of orders for planes and that the global economy should still be healthy enough to support solid growth in the airline industry.

Still, there was evidence of weaker demand already in the fourth quarter. Boeing delivered 182 planes in the last three months of the year, a nearly 7% decline from the fourth quarter of 2014.

The softness was across the board too -- deliveries fell for Boeing's 737, 777 and 787 Dreamliner planes.

Boeing's stock has now plunged almost 20% this year. European rival Airbus(EADSY) is struggling as well. Its shares fell 3% in trading on exchanges in Paris and Frankfurt on Wednesday and are down more than 10% this month.